Anne-Marie Cusac is a 2015 fellow with the Medill Social Justice News Nexus (SJNNChicago.org) and a professor of journalism at Roosevelt University.
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Anne-Marie Cusac
Getting Smart on Crime: Conservatives Discover Prison Reform
When John Turner left Walker State Prison, his wife gave him a new set of clothes. He put them on and looked at himself in the mirror. Read more
The Fight for Mental Health Services in Chicago
“Trust is everything with treating mental illness,” Bryant says. “We don’t have any, and there are damn good reasons why we don’t.” Read more
Witnessing the Protests in Brazil
I came here to visit my family. The government hoped I'd come for a soccer tournament."Are you in Rio for the Confederation Cup?" asked a woman in uniform when we stepped from the plane."No, no," we said. Posters in the Brazilian team's yellow an... Read more
A Derrick by Your Campsite
In Ohio, thanks to John Kasich, state parks now welcome oil and gas companies. Read more
You're in the Hole: A Crackdown on Dissident Prisoners
It was September 19, 2001. Elizabeth McAlister had not heard from her husband, Philip Berrigan, in more than a week. Such silence on Berrigan's part was "most unusual," she says. Read more
Watching Torture in Prime Time
Watching Torture in Prime TimeFrom the August 2005 Issue In the same week as the one-year anniversary of Abu Ghraib, an episode of the Fox hit show 24 opened with a scene of the Counter Terrorism Unit medical clinic. Lying in a hospital be... Read more
Abu Ghraib, USA
When I first saw the photo, taken at the Abu Ghraib prison, of a hooded and robed figure strung with electrical wiring, I thought of the Sacramento, California, city jail. When I heard that dogs had been used to intimidate and bite at least... Read more
Anniversary of Stonewall riots marks gay rights landmark
This week marks the 35th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, which sparked the modern gay and lesbian movement. Read more
Saul Bellow Reconsidered
I had an unfortunate introduction to Saul Bellow. In 1988, as a college senior, I took a contemporary novels course with one of my favorite professors, a discerning, fervent, word-loving Shakespeare expert. Read more
View of prison abuse is also in our backyard
[T]he images from Iraq look all too American to me. Read more
An Army of Debt
Like many stories, this has several beginnings. Here is one: On a hot day in August, 1983, just before my senior year of high school, I walked into the Army recruitment office in Appleton, Wisconsin. Read more
No Lawyers Beyond This Point Immigration Authorities Bar the Door
When the Bush Administration orders male Muslim immigrants to report for what is called Special Registration, it often interferes with their Sixth Amendment right to counsel. Read more
The Devil's Chair
Bush is doing in Guantanamo what guards are doing in the U.S. Intended as a restraint, it has led to torture and death. Read more
Tillie Olsen Interview
TILLIE OLSEN, THE BELOVED FICTION WRITER, IS SELF-EFFACING IN PERSON. "I haven't published a lot of anything," she says. And she's partly right. Her output has been relatively small. But she makes up for that in quality. Most famous for the... Read more
